Ex-Rookwood chief DeMois gets a piece of Facebook IPO

With all the hype, it wasn’t easy for individual investors to get in on the Facebook Inc. IPO. But ex-Rookwood Pottery Co. CEO Chip DeMois was able to snag 400 shares.

DeMois put in his order with his broker, Hank Brightwell at Stifel Nicolaus, well before the $16 billion initial public offering – the third-largest U.S. IPO in history – was completed Thursday night. But he knew it was a bit of a crapshoot as to whether he’d get his order filled or not.

It turned out DeMois got 400 shares in the offering at $38 each.

“I was surprised,” said DeMois, who runs a management consulting firm in West Chester. “Apparently, this one had wider availability (than most IPOs).”

Investment pros say you have to be a major client to get in on hot deals like the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO. In fact, Mark Kleespies, president of Anderson Township-based investment advisory firm Thor Investment Management, said most investors have to wait until the stock starts trading on the open market.

“It is very difficult to participate in hot IPOs like Facebook,” Kleespies said.

DeMois doesn’t think he has achieved big-client status at Stifel, he said. Still, he got in on the ground floor of the IPO. Then he waited, as the hype and investor demand surrounding the Facebook deal led investment experts to predict a big pop in the first-day price on Friday. But while the stock opened at $42.05 and got to $45, it closed the day almost where it started, at $38.23.

“I did expect a little bit of a pop and was surprised it went back to where it started,” DeMois said.

But he never thought about selling, even during the opening, frenzied minutes. He doesn’t plan to sell now, either, with Facebook tanking 9 percent in Monday mid-afternoon trading.

“I’m in it for the long run,” he said. “I’m a long-term investor. I bought in on the long-term viability of social media and this as a central conduit of it. As with any other investment, you buy it and you have faith.”

Even so, DeMois plans to consider a covered call option strategy if the stock stays down. That’s a way for investors to make money while limiting their upside. He said options on Facebook won’t be available until month-end, though. So until then he’ll wait and bank on it being a good long-term holding.